Sideways Knit Raw Silk Vest

It's finished, my first ever sideways knit and my first time working with raw silk. It was quite fun. I think if I ever use raw silk again I'll use metal needles as the plastic did get a bit stiff. It did force me to use a looser gadge which could have been a good thing.

If anyone's curious about the pattern you can find it here...

http://www.ample-knitters.com/mid-xpress.html

I found the perfect hook clasps over at Joann's, They are a copper color and have a sort of deep burgundy stone set in which I think works quite well. I may try to redye the vest a deeper color later as my first dying attempt did not go as dark as I planned. No worries, the darker trim I used is synthetic (I felt safe doing this as the raw silk doesn't seem to shrink in the least) so it shouldn't pick up too much of a color change if I redye the raw silk bits. Overall I'm quite happy with it, now I need to wear it with a proper dress shirt. The tee was just to try it on now and then while I was working on it.

We've Got Balls!

Well we had our first official yarn exchange... a good way of perhaps finding some new yarn without spending any money and getting rid of yarn you have no plans of using, I suppose we could call it a yarn swap. I think most of the yarn brought in found new homes. I still have the leftovers in a bag, hmmm.... my nice Mickia has been curious about my loom knitting, perhaps I can set her to work.

Here are pics of Kristi's tasty new concoctions and a new and wonderful ascot scarf by Amber...